I thought this was absolutely marvelous - especially with its low cost. It's surprising that such a technology is only being tested now.

I was thinking that the low-cost nature of this event would make it a perfect idea for an X-prize type of competition.After all, it's not just Man's job to get up into space, but also to come back as well.

Perhaps such a competition could be held using sounding rockets. One standard type of sounding rocket would be used by everyone, and the competing teams would each try to design a deployable re-entry system that could bring a payload safely back down into a target area. Whoever lands closest to the marker without damaging the payload wins the prize.

You could eventually mate different competitions together, like "mixed doubles" tennis matches.A launch team could couple with a re-entry team, and they would jointly share the prize. But that's after both types of systems have evolved to the point where they could be effectively integrated together.

But let the re-entry vehicles first also have their own prize, using some existing standard launch system. That way the re-entry technologies can compete independently of any launch impediments.

Notice that landers are competing without the use of any launchers to have them first deploy from, but that's helped by the fact that they can just take off from the ground. With re-entry tech, you do first have to get up there, so why not just use sounding rockets. That way re-entry tech can compete/develop in parallel with launch tech, rather than serially following it.

1. A launch team coupling up with a re-entry team makes no sense in that a launch means is so much more of a project that there would be a mis-match with a much simpler RV team. And trying to get them to fit together would not work. Better to have the launcher and RV one competition--but that doesn't make good sense either.

2. Using an existing launch means will be much too expensive, and exclude from an RV competition all but one or two who would have access to launch means.

3. Sounding rockets of the current design, like Black Brant, are still too expensive and arranging for a launch of one of them too much of a project. Same problem as with #2.

Also, a sounding rocket means an RV coming straight down from 100 to a few hundred km, not a realistic simulation of a return from orbit.

A new space prize will probably have to be one of a launcher, or includes a launch means like the N Prize. Charles Pooley Microlaunchers